Most employees have lied on a resume at one point or another when they’ve been competing for a job. Depending on what you read, you may even hear this referred to as an epidemic. The job market has been tough the past few years, and stretching work dates or inflating achievements doesn’t seem that bad, or does it? As with all lies…little lies can turn into big lies, and in this case, that can spell disaster if your potential employer does his or her homework (before or after) hiring you.
Hill & Associates, a global consulting firm, recently revealed the results of their massive study about lying on resumes. They published their findings in The Economic Times, and you can also see what they found in the form of an infographic below. This infographic called Did You Lie On Your Resume? goes into detail about the things most employees lie about on their resumes, and reading it may even make you feel uncomfortable. According to this, most employees have fudged the truth about something on their resumes.
The crazy thing (or exciting thing – depending on who you are) is that there is a website called CareerExcuse.com that will create a work history, paycheck stubs and fake (but seemingly real) job references that are guaranteed to fool your next potential employer. Is this what it’s come to in order to get a job? If it’s all fake, well, what’s the point of even requiring a resume in the first place?
So whether you lied about getting your degree, faked your employment dates, inflated your previous salary, lied about your skills or even made up a fake previous employer, you are not alone. As I said, most employees do it. But is it worth it?
Even if the lies help you get the job, they can still come back to bite you when you are already in the position. We’ve seen countless examples of that. An article that was published on AOL Jobs yesterday mentioned the example of how Scott Thompson, the former CEO of Yahoo before Marissa Mayer, got busted for never getting the computer science degree he claimed he received on his resume.
George O’Leary had to step down as coach of Notre Dame after his resume lies came back to haunt him. Also, Dave Edmonson was asked to resign from his position as CEO of Radio Shack after he got busted lying on his resume. I could go on and on.
The moral of the story is, just because all the other kids are doing it, it doesn’t make it right. Choosing to lie on your resume can turn out to be a very costly and embarrassing decision. Just ask yourself, is it worth it? My guess is that most employees get away with it, but that doesn’t guarantee you will.
Most Employees Have Lied On Their Resumes
The lies range from tiny lies to big whopper lies.
(Click Infographic To Enlarge)
Via: [visual.ly] [AOL Jobs] [eLearning] Header Image Credit: [Sharideth]
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